Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Sidney Rice (18) leaves the field after scoring the winning touchdown in the Seahawks' 23-17 overtime win over the Chicago Bears in an NFL football game in Chicago, Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012. / Charles Rex Arbogast, AP

by Mike Garafolo, USA TODAY Sports

by Mike Garafolo, USA TODAY Sports

CHICAGO â?? A Seattle Seahawks team doctor asked wide receiver Sidney Rice if his face hurt, which seemed like a setup for the old punch line, "Because it's killing me."

This, though, was a serious question. Rice had taken a huge blow to the head from Chicago Bears safety Major Wright as he crossed the goal line for the game-winning 13-yard touchdown in the Seattle Seahawks' 23-17 overtime victory and he'd remained on the ground for a few minutes as players scrambled for what Bears players had hoped would be ruled a fumble.

Rice told the doctor he was fine, so here came a different humorous finish to the question about his face hurting.

"Maybe from smiling too much?" the doc said with a grin of his own.

It took a while for Rice to smile that way. After Wright's big hit, he was told by team trainers to stay down. One of those trainers even snapped at tight end Anthony McCoy after McCoy tried picking up Rice by his arm.

Rice said he never blacked out and there was no diagnosis of a concussion, which was a good sign, because Rice has had two of them in the past. In fact, he grimaced once while at his locker, only to point to his midsection and say, "Cramp."

If that was the worst of his problems, he's awfully fortunate.

"You've got Doug (Baldwin) on me because last year he was the one that let them know I was concussed, I believe the Baltimore game, I was running the wrong plays out there," Rice said. "He came over and checked on me. They just wanted to make sure I was fine."

Wide receiver Golden Tate, who caught a touchdown to give the Seahawks a brief lead late in regulation, helped Rice to the sideline once Rice was allowed to get up.

"First off, just making sure he was all right, the fact he was walking, talking, that was a positive sign," Tate said. "I was like, 'Good job, Sidney. You did it, you made a play when we needed it and got it done.' He wasn't saying much. He was tired, he was cramping up, he'd just got smacked."

Tate added with a laugh, "He was just like, 'All right, thank you.'"

Within a minute or so, Rice was walking on his own toward the locker room. He threw his hands in the air when he heard replay confirmed the touchdown.

It was the biggest play of the day for Rice, though there was another one that shouldn't be overlooked. It came in the fourth quarter, during the drive that ended with Tate's touchdown to put Seattle ahead, when he leaped to stop Wright from picking off an overthrown pass from Russell Wilson.

But the touchdown was all the talk afterward.

"I came off the ball and made (Charles) Tillman stop his feet like I was going to block him," Rice said. "As soon as he looked inside, I just jetted across the field, threw my hands in front of me, Russ saw me and put it right on me.